[CH] chile grenade
John Sphar (chilehead@pacbell.net)
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:10:08 -0700
I thought this might get a chortle.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100323/ap_on_re_as/as_india_chili_grenades
GAUHATI, India (AP)- The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism:
the world's hottest chili.
After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized
"bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to
immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.
The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the
world's spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India's northeast for its
taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling
summer heat.
It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a
chili's spiciness. Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville
units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.
"The chili grenade has been found fit for use after trials in Indian defense
laboratories, a fact confirmed by scientists at the Defense Research and
Development Organization," Col. R. Kalia, a defense spokesman in the
northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press.
"This is definitely going to be an effective nontoxic weapon because its
pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hide-outs,"
R. B. Srivastava, the director of the Life Sciences Department at the New
Delhi headquarters of the DRDO said.
Srivastava, who led a defense research laboratory in Assam, said trials are
also on to produce bhut jolokia-based aerosol sprays to be used by women
against attackers and for the police to control and disperse mobs.
John Sphar
No one drinks hot pepper soup in a hurry.
African proverb